Sadly S1 is over:( Generally speaking, this Australian season has definitely exceeded our expectations!

But concerning postproduction, contestant choosing, mission designing, etc., is there anything that has disappointed you? In your opinion, what are shortcomings of this season? And what aspect do you think still needs improving?

1. The Fast Forward. They need more than one. It's not as if they don't have extra tasks on this version, so why not use a couple of them as FFs instead?

2. Arrange the NELs better. First-leg NELs are anticlimactic and boring (plus I'm sick of them), and towards the end it felt like we were padding for time. I'd love to see a Leg 2 NEL (which gets rid of the anticlimax of a Leg 1 NEL while still keeping the basic premise), then maybe one in the middle (F7-ish) and one at F5 or F4.

3. The casting. Too many dull teams, to be honest, especially with the three worst offenders all making it to the finale. I get why each of them was cast, but at least try and find examples of their gimmick who are less boring. The surfers in particular came across as though they were reading from an autocue in most of their confessionals.

4. The Road Blocks. Too many tasks that were similar. The lanterns was the same basic "arrange these in order using the provided hints" task we got the week before with the coins, and the bungy, skydive, and two identical-in-all-but-location abseiling challenge was just repetitive.

5. A set penalty structure. None of this "you get 20 minutes at the Pit Stop for doing it wrong here, but you get 10 minutes right now for doing it wrong here" crap. Go back to the old structure: Penalise them any time they gained, plus 30 minutes for the mistake itself. No excuses.

6. The lack of North America. Not even necessarily the US itself, but it seems odd that the only foreign version with a big enough budget to handle it, plus the strong exchange rate, still stayed to the Eastern Hemisphere.

7. No "If you fail to do this in X attempts you get a penalty" tasks. It's not racing if they're just sitting around waiting for the penalty to end. Just let them keep going until they get it, regardless of how long it takes. The lost time will be enough of a penalty on its own.

Don't get me wrong, it looks like a long list, but there's more to like about the season than there was to hate. Far more.

All of above simply concludes most of my thoughts. For me, the most disappointing thing is the tasks that are copied off at most of first 3 legs, (not really paying attention to others) and based on the 4 first legs that I only watched so far (thanks to not-so-good Internet connection), lack of conflict between teams I say (Richard & Joey who seems antagonistic even gone in this leg ).Too peaceful is bad for your health, need a little drah-mah.

All of above simply concludes most of my thoughts. For me, the most disappointing thing is the tasks that are copied off at most of first 3 legs, (not really paying attention to others) and based on the 4 first legs that I only watched so far (thanks to not-so-good Internet connection), lack of conflict between teams I say (Richard & Joey who seems antagonistic even gone in this leg ).Too peaceful is bad for your health, need a little drah-mah.

I don't understand why so many Aussies, both contestants and netizens on Facebook, hated Richard & Joey

I don't understand why so many Aussies, both contestants and netizens on Facebook, hated Richard & Joey

Aussies hate arrogant people, people who show off, self driven and self centred. Richard and Joey appeared to be all that (due to a lot of TV editing however). There is a tall-poppy syndrome here as well that the rich and powerful and people with high status are seen as the enemy. In the US, it often seems people look up to the rich and powerful as someone to admire. Its opposite here.

« Last Edit: August 03, 2011, 09:10:42 PM by RichInSydney »

Logged

"I wish the world was flat like the old days, and I could travel just by folding a map."

The question was asked about re-using tasks from TAR Asia and Israel, and to be fair, its only the hardcore fans like us who would notice. I personally dont mind as it keeps costs down too. To see Israel was wonderful and refreshing.

However season 2 will have an issue if they do this again, because contestants would most likely study TAR Asia on Youtube to get some clues on the route and tasks!

The main issue I had with this season was the dominance of all-male teams. The tasks were too strength/coordination driven. Not enough skills tasks. (appart from the last leg which was mostly luck).

Also Grant Bowler was a little underwelming.

Logged

"I wish the world was flat like the old days, and I could travel just by folding a map."

I already watched 9 episodes of TAR:Australia. I'm loving it although I'm a bit disappointed because the tasks weren't original. Maybe because TARA and TAR:Australia have the same producers and it would definitely cut the costs of production by re-using the same old tasks that were featured in the Asian version.

The only problem I had with this season was Grant. I pretty much liked or loved almost everything about this season. The only other thing is I would have only cast three all male teams ( I strongly believe in equal all male and all female teams).

But thats a rather mild quibble.

As far as repeated tasks, not a big problem most of them were still done well, and had drama and were visually interesting so no harm no foul.

The copy tasks...and the cast gave me a feeling similar to the US vesion cast(Nathan/Tyler reminds me Tyler/James,Models reminds me BQ, and Cowboys...I hope they can choose some teams who will give me feeling that this is TARAU,not TARUS or something...)

Besides being pretty robotic, Grant has a voice that's pretty cringe-worthy at times. No offense to the man, but it's true (at least for me)

the editing at times feels "too safe", usually a generic happy/sad/sucess!/failure music plays whenever something happens. The show rarely tries really unique and complex editing techniques, it's a little disappointing, but not really a huge deal, a little more variety in editing would have been better though.

TARAsia is terrible imo, please stop copying, even if the tasks copied are a million (nay, a billion) times better rendered.

less obvious "cannon fodder" teams and strong teams, the season's boot order was very predictable

A little better leg structure planning (remember the dumb intersection right before the pistop? or 3 stinkin' luck task in the finale)

Shorter recaps at the start of the episode, why do they need to be so long?

The show's a little cheesy at times, it's rare, but it happens.

subtitle for people with an australian accent as strong as Matt's (btw, they were my favorite team, Matt and Tom, if only I could understand Matt more).

Less emphasis on scenery (too many zoom shots) and more on the teams and on the race.

Don't lose the Marked for Elimination penalty, it's the perfect penalty, the speedbump is progessively getting worse and worse.

That's all I have to say for now, I still love the show, it's the best TAR rendition yet, nothing else came close.

One thing that got to me, i dont know why, is that despite grants voiceovers usually being replicated word for word from phils, he says 'in OUR race around the world' whereas phil clearly say 'in A race..'.

Im guessing that this was a concious change, but i much prefer phils line!